Paging BG Legal - Contract support - Quick replies required.

[Senoska]

Hey there BG. I need your legal advice yet again. I'm writing this at 3:00AM and have been up for awhile and working all night so sorry if this rambles a bit. As I've mentioned in other post here I was home schooled through my high school years; however, I was unable to finish my program. I was 3 credits away from my senior year but some very serious family problems came up which ended up with me not having access to materials and my contract expired - or so I thought. When you sign up with the program you're given 3 years to complete the program or your contract becomes null. I never gave it a second thought, I just assumed my contract was over and I was done with it.

The current school I go too didn't request my high school transcripts because I had GED transcripts and 15 credits at a local community college. However, the school I'm applying too now requires highschool transcripts. That being said I contacted my high school about 3 weeks ago and requested my transcript. They then told me that I had not canceled my account and I would have to do so now and they would tell me how much money I owed them. "Oh boy.." I thought. Well, I went digging and found the original contract I had signed when I enrolled in the program and it says that if I completed more than 50% of the program I would have a cancellation fee of 100% the tuition which is around 2.2k. Clearly I'm not paying that for them to release my transcripts. However, it says that is only if I cancel my account 5 weeks after the start of the program and I've completed 50% of the program or more. What has me confused is my contract expired well over two years ago. Can they ask me to pay a cancellation fee even though I never actually canceled my account while my contract was still valid and waited til several years AFTER the fact to cancel? This is what the contract says:

(4) If the school is notified of cancellation after completetion of more than 50% of the program, the student will be obligation to [school name here.] for the full tuition cost (100%) of the program.

Then down a bit farther it says this:

A student enrolled in the high school diploma program has 3 years from the original date of acceptance to complete his or her program. This contract will cease to be in effect after three years from the original date of acceptance. No request for refunds will be considered thereafter.

If they tell me I owe them money when I call them tomorrow, am I justified in telling them to fuck themselves and release my transcripts to me before I take them to court or am I fucked and have to pay this fucking retarded amount of money? Thanks BG.

Note: Somewhat urgent on the replies, I gotta have these sent by tomorrow or I won't make my application deadline for my school.

[Kwijiboe]

You don't really need legal advice here, you need grown man advice.

You really shouldn't be asking this hours before the deadline hits, you should have taken care of this earlier.

However, I don't want to be completely mean. Talk to the school you are trying to get into and explain your situation-- if they can work with you, they will work with you, or at least send you to someone else that may be able to help you. You really can't be mad at 'them' for not being able to help you because you put yourself in the situation you are in. You may still be able to enroll, under the condition you get those transcripts to them by an agreed upon date.

And about the contracts, they will probably work with you if you contact them directly-- but if you have pending bills, why should they help you unless you haven't paid for previous services?

Best way to lose here is by telling everyone "fuck you, and I'll see you in court."
---

Wish you luck, but your own procastination is your own fault.

[Senoska]

You don't really need legal advice here, you need grown man advice.

You really shouldn't be asking this hours before the deadline hits, you should have taken care of this earlier.

However, I don't want to be completely mean. Talk to the school you are trying to get into and explain your situation-- if they can work with you, they will work with you, or at least send you to someone else that may be able to help you. You really can't be mad at 'them' for not being able to help you because you put yourself in the situation you are in.

Wish you luck, but your own procastination is your own fault.

Thanks dad, because I totally didn't say I requested this shit 3 weeks ago and it didn't really click until last night. I was okay paying a few hundred dollars but I only found my contract tonight

I started the program in JAN 2004, forgive me for not remembering the exact details of my contract. I only found them yesterday. I was okay with paying some money but Jesus fucknuts thats a lot of money for my fucking transcripts to be sent to me.

But hey, thanks for your two cents.. I'm glad your opinion was expressed. Too bad you didn't answer my question in the least.

[Kwijiboe]

Fine, take them to court.

[Senoska]

You don't seem to understand what I'm saying. I'm talking about the people that are holding my transcripts and taking them to court for holding them on an expired contract. Not the school I'm getting into.

[Ohaigaiz]

You're kind of fucked since it's so late and hardly anyone posts at this time.

[Senoska]

That's fine, I can call until 5:00 tomorrow. It's urgent in the sense it really needs to be figured out before that and hopefully before they open. I went to school all day, went out with friends, and now I'm cleaning my house so I'm rather tired but I intend to stay up a little longer to see the outcome of this thread. I really am stressed the fuck out about this.

[Wintermute]

Trick to contracts is that they're vague enough for the company who makes you sign to play it any which way they want according to what's most convenient for them.

You'd really need to post a full transcript to get a definitive answer from anyone since context in contracts is critical, and even then what you really need (like it or not) is an actual lawyer to go through it with you and translate it to English. Legalese can be interpreted so many ways it's not funny.

If I were you I'd meet up with an official from the school, preferrably someone who deals with the contracts, and talk through it.
If that doesn't work and they absolutely want the money consult a lawyer to see what your options are.

[Senoska]

Trick to contracts is that they're vague enough for the company who makes you sign to play it any which way they want according to what's most convenient for them.

You'd really need to post a full transcript to get a definitive answer from anyone since context in contracts is critical, and even then what you really need (like it or not) is an actual lawyer to go through it with you and translate it to English. Legalese can be interpreted so many ways it's not funny.

If I were you I'd meet up with an official from the school, preferrably someone who deals with the contracts, and talk through it.
If that doesn't work and they absolutely want the money consult a lawyer to see what your options are.

Actually, that's pretty much the whole transcript. The other things listed are about people that completed less of the program. there are 4 conditions listed. Only the last applying to me and the line under that is the 3 year comment.

[izembo]

A student enrolled in the high school diploma program has 3 years from the original date of acceptance to complete his or her program. This contract will cease to be in effect after three years from the original date of acceptance. No request for refunds will be considered thereafter.


that doesn't say you don't have to pay because the contract isn't in effect anymore. it just means that since you did over 50% you have to pay 100%, and now you cant even finish it because the contract is over.

[fantasticdan]

^What izembo said. The money you owe them didn't expire, just your ability to complete the program.

[Kaslo]

To be fair, I don't think they can hold your transcripts. They are, in effect, your personal property. They can take you to court for the money that you owe, however the transcripts are your property that can't be taken without some sort of proceeding.

[izembo]

a lot of places also charge for transcripts soo....

[fantasticdan]

To be fair, I don't think they can hold your transcripts. They are, in effect, your personal property.

No they aren't, lol. Colleges withholding transcripts for an unpaid balance is legal, and basically standard procedure, I don't see why it would be any different for his highschool/GED or whatever program.

AFAIK, the only situation where a court can force a school to release a transcript is if the student had filed for bankruptcy, and had the debt to said school discharged.

[Lbelle]

Don't you have transcripts from the community college that you went to? When I was homeschooled through high school I was in a homeschool program too, and the college that I went to (UF) just accepted the community college transcripts and didn't really care about my highschool stuff.

If the homeschool people are being difficult, I'd speak to someone at the school you're applying to and tell them the situation, and let them know you have your college transcripts available. Be as nice as possible, and they may have some advice for you. If so, do whatever they say and then deal with the homeschooling people after.

The most important thing is that you get into the college and maybe they will let it slide that you dont have your HS transcript but you do have your CC transcript.

edit: And yeah, everywhere charges a small fee (my school's is around seven dollars) for your transcript to be released/sent someplace. It's normal.

[Tomk]

I would suggest appealing to them and saying that you can set up a payment plan to pay the owed tuition. If they never sent you any bills saying that you owed this then tell then that. Explain that you found out about the debt only when you went for the transcript and are willing to pay but you don't have it all right now.

As long as you have promised to pay and set up a plan (anything, maybe just $100 a month) they should send you the transcript.

Hope this isn't too late.

[Kaslo]

Well I wasn't counting a small fee for coping expense because that is normal for any kind of records.

[Senoska]

A student enrolled in the high school diploma program has 3 years from the original date of acceptance to complete his or her program. This contract will cease to be in effect after three years from the original date of acceptance. No request for refunds will be considered thereafter.


that doesn't say you don't have to pay because the contract isn't in effect anymore. it just means that since you did over 50% you have to pay 100%, and now you cant even finish it because the contract is over.

I never canceled the account until the contract expired. It's like a cell phone contract and letting it expire, they cant charge you for canceling a service after the contract expired, can they? If so, that's fucking retarded..

The point is I'm not paying them. I have a hard time paying for school let alone another 2.2k. It's not happening. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and contact a lawyer if they refuse to release them. Unfortunately they were closed today and I have to wait until monday.... I hope I make it in time.

[Darus Grey]

When the school askes for your highschool transcript say that you were homeschooled.

There is no way they can prove you're not, and they can't discriminate against you based on that fact. Your GED score is ALL you are required to have. If your state is one that has one of the VERY new "homeschool" Diploma programs...you're ok...just lie again and say you were schooled well living in a different state.

There is no paperwork you can provide to "prove" this, since none is ever issued(except your GED), and there is nothing they can look at to prove it themselves.

Granted, if you already told them otherwise you're fucked. But most colleges deal with this all the time, and if you just call them and tell them, they won't make much a fuss over it.

Of course where you really screwed up is only 15 credit hours of community college...had you done 24 they wouldn't even ask to see your GED.

[fantasticdan]

I never canceled the account until the contract expired. It's like a cell phone contract and letting it expire, they cant charge you for canceling a service after the contract expired, can they? If so, that's fucking retarded..

The point is I'm not paying them. I have a hard time paying for school let alone another 2.2k. It's not happening. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and contact a lawyer if they refuse to release them. Unfortunately they were closed today and I have to wait until monday.... I hope I make it in time.

What? Judging by your original post, you're not really paying a cancellation fee, you're just obligated to pay your full tuition despite not completing the program. (Unless you're saying you already paid your tuition, but they're charging you an entire extra tuition as a cancellation fee, which is completely insane.) Telling a lawyer/judge you don't have to pay it because you're able to take some part of the contract out of context isn't going to get you anywhere. Your best bet is to talk to the school and try to set up a monthly payment like Tomk described above, you might also be able to get them to lower what you owe in the process.